August began with lovely hot sunny weather but that certainly hasn't lasted and the last week or so has had a distinctly autumnal feel about it. Early on Thursday morning the temperature dipped down to 6.4°C (43.5°F) making it a very chilly start to the day and on Friday morning even lower at 5.2°C or 41.4°F.
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| Temperature & Rainfall Records 29-31 August 2018 |
At the allotment there's a bit of an autumnal feel too as we clear away summer crops and begin to harvest apples and plums. However, the allotment remains very dry and although crops can be cleared away to the compost heap the ground is far too hard to dig over. After rain last weekend I though I'd dig over the summer onion bed.
The onions had been lifted a few weeks ago and placed into boxes to be stored over winter. I thought the rain would have softened the soil up and it would be easy to dig over. I was wrong, in fact, it was difficult to tell there had been any rain. I did manage to turn over a couple of spades of soil but it was tough going and I didn't think it was worth carrying on.
The problem is that the number of beds that we are clearing are mounting up and ideally they all need digging over before any bad weather sets in. To make matters worse there's still no "proper rain" in the forecast for the next week to ten days so our drought conditions look as though they will continue on into the first weeks of September.
However, the good news is that the fine sunny weather looks set to return and we may well be in for a very nice spell of September weather. Apart from the possibility of a few showers there's certainly no prolonged wet weather in the forecast.
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| Ten Day Forecast Based on GFS Weather Model from http://www.wetterzentrale.de |
If you choose your photographic location carefully the plot still looks summery especially our perennial bed.
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| Rose - Jacqueline du Pre |
Our roses have seemed to enjoy the long hot summer and have been flowering since the end of May. However, our cardoons are now looking very sorry for themselves.
The bees are now having to look elsewhere for their nectar fix as the flower heads have now died off. It's been windy enough to break some of the thick stems so the saw will have to come out and they will be removed to the compost heap. At least it's a job that doesn't depend on it raining.
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Here, too, there is a delightful autumn feel to the air in the early mornings. The overnight temperatures have fallen to their early June levels, 63F. Not as cool as yours but a delightful change from 75F. Fruit is ripening and roses are blooming once again after their long summer hiatus.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the process of picking most of our fruit. Plums, greengages and apples are ready for picking. We're still needing some rain to help get ground dug over for winter. June, July and August together have managed a decent months rainfall.
DeleteOur remaining globe artichokes have started to flower, much to the delight of the bees! I do hope night time temperatures will hold up for a few weeks more so that production of courgettes, beans etc doesn't cut out just yet.
ReplyDeleteHave you contemplated green manuring your concrete beds or would that not fit in with your regime?
I've green manured one of our concrete beds with grazing rye. Planning on doing a few more beds if I can get the surface in a suitable state for seed sowing.
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